Brockets 299 



Characters. — Antlers in the form of simple unbranched spikes. Meta- 

 tarsal, and in two instances also the tarsal, gland and tuft absent. Tail very 

 short. Face elongated ; face-gland small and exposed, and the gland-pit 

 deep and triangular ; the crown of the head tufted, and the hair of the face 

 radiating from two whorls, one of which is situated on the crown of the 

 head and the other below the line of the eyes, so that while the hair of the 

 forehead, as in other deer, is directed upwards towards the antlers, that of 

 the nose is directed downwards towards the muzzle. Upper canines occa- 

 sionally present in old males. Hair fine and smooth. Size small ; build 

 clumsy, with the back much arched ; the profile of the face convex, Fawns 

 spotted with white. The ears are of medium length ; the upper lip has a 

 pair of white spots on each side of the nose, and the lower lip is marked by 

 a larger spot of white in the middle line. 



It may be mentioned that the term brocket properly belongs to young 

 red deer stags, but in semi-scientific literature is now universally applied to 

 the members of the present group. Fossil remains of brockets occur in the 

 cavern-deposits of Lagoa Santa, Minas Geraes, Brazil, and likewise in the 

 Plistocene beds of the Argentine pampas, but their specific determination 

 stands in need of revision. 



In regard to the specific representatives of the group, Sir Victor Brooke, 

 in 1878, wrote as follows : — It is now many years since I commenced the 

 study of this difficult group of the Cervidce ; but although I have examined 

 the specimens contained in nearly all the continental museums, and made a 

 private collection of some importance, I must confess that I am still far 

 from a satisfactory understanding of the subject. The complete absence of 

 cornual and cranial characters renders it exceedingly difficult to grasp the 

 characteristic peculiarities of the different modifications of the form, six or 

 seven of which are, I think, probably persistent, and worthy of specific 

 recognition." Fuller series of specimens are still urgently required before 

 our knowledge of the group can be regarded as approaching completion. 

 In the retention of a spotted coat by the fawns the sub -genus is less 

 specialised than the last ; but the loss of the metatarsal gland and the 

 simple form of the antlers are specialised, or degraded, and not primitive 

 features. As already mentioned, the circumstance that species of the 

 Blastoceros group with antlers nearly or quite as highly developed as the 

 living forms occur in the Monte Hermoso beds of Argentina, which were 



